The battle of the year! Cingular’s newcomer HSDPA squares off with Sprint’s crowd-favorite EV-DO. Speculation has been splattered from one side of the Internet to the other about which technology fairs better and I’m here to set the record straight.
Using both a Novatel Merlin XU870 HSDPA ExpressCard and a Merlin EX720 EV-DO, during my travels to various points across the country I was able to fully realize the pros and cons of these bitterly contested opponents. Can EV-DO maintain its dominance over the WWAN arena with its consistent performance, or will HSDPA clinch the title with its fast and fancy footwork?
As I mentioned above, HSDPA is the new kid on the block. It emerged in the past year and has recently seen some wide proliferation in its network availability. I’ve had considerable experience with HSDPA on my Blackjack and its been mostly positive. The availability has been good and the performance agreeable. Given those factors I was excited to try the dedicated HSDPA ExpressCard on my MacBook Pro.
At 7.2Mbps, Cingular HSDPA is twice as fast as the paltry 3.1Mbps EV-DO Rev. A offered by Sprint. The problem I’ve found is that you’re unlikely to achieve those speeds anywhere. During my travels, I unable to able to reach max bandwidth on Sprint of HSDPA. But don’t let that sway you, each of the mediums manage to sail in their own rights.
AlthoughCingular doesn’t currently offer the Merlin XU870 ExpressCard directly, one can be had pretty easily and it works on a MacBook Pro without a hitch. Just update the OS X software and you’re good to go. Simplicity of install is a great device feature, especially in comparison to the disaster that is the EX720 setup on Mac.
HSDPA turned out to be rather bittersweet. I found few locations where it hit anything near its stated 7.2Mbps capacity, regardless, I did locate more than a few areas that produced markedly faster speeds than its counterpart. What I noted is that three solid bars allows for some pretty speedy Web browsing. I was, however, disappointed to find a lackluster gain in download speeds. I suspect packet loss to be the culprit, but it was undeniably noticeable.
The way I see it, HSDPA has about a year to dominate. At about that time, WiMAX will squirt its beautiful head from Sprint’s placenta. When that happens, those 7.2Mbps that HSDPA offers won’t seem so pretty for the same reason that 3.1Mbps on EV-DO doesn’t seem so great anymore. Why? Because WiMAX will be 9376481641^17Mbps (results my vary), and who will want HSDPA when you can get WiMAX.
So the prompt to Cingular, is to get your game together. You’ve got the better technology right now, but you’re rolling it out slower than granny at bowling night. Those pins aren’t going to knock themselves down. You gotta put some space-aged polymer hip into it, grandma. Rally the Bridge club, call your senile old friends, I don’t care. Just get it done faster than you’re currently doing it, because you’re throwing gutter balls even with the better technology.
As I previously explained, EV-DO is a favorite for a reason: consistency. Sure when HSDPA zings, EV-DO can’t compete, but HSDPA seldom lives up to its full potential. What I found is that Sprint ain’t lyin’ about that widest availability thing. Its EV-DO is available everywhere I tried it. In buildings, under overhangs, in closets, on toilets, Texas. Nothing seemed to stop it. I also managed reasonably quick browsing speeds with downloads of around 150KB and uploads of roughly 40KBps. That’s as fast as my first home broadband connection, but it’s available anywhere — guess which is more desirable.
Meanwhile my HSDPA card sat forlorn in my backpack knowing he could do better if coach would just believe in him. A terrible fate indeed, but consider the facts. The Merlin XU870 frequently slipped into EDGE mode which isn’t good for anything. Seriously, EDGE is just bad. It’s like using dial-up. It just frustrates me more than anything and by the end I’m preparing to smash my system into the ground. EV-DO never experiences such qualms. It’s always EV-DO. It might not reach its max speeds, but it performs well enough that you can still get most of your work done.
The Merlin EX720 ExpressCard that Sprint is currently offering is straight up awesome, once you get it working that is. You see, the EX720 can’t be activated on Mac. To make it work, you’ll have to activate it on a PC with an ExpressCard slot. It’s pretty painless if you have the materials, but be prepared for it. If you don’t, the device won’t locate a carrier and will be wholly useless.
Now it’s important to consider that the playing field here is level. Given that both cards are from Novatel, they’re at least cut from the same performance caliber. The variations are completely dependent on the medium. That said, I think EV-DO is the best choice at the moment. If you’re getting a WWAN card, I suspect your goal is to use it in a variety of locations. Unless you can confirm that HSDSPA will be available in most of the areas you’ll be using it (and I expect that you’ll be using it in a lot of unexpected areas).
If HSDPA ever gets enough traction, then watch out. It’ll blast EV-DO into a million pieces. Sadly, it doesn’t seem that it’ll spread wide enough before WiMAX stomps onto the scene.
I used a Verizon EV-DO card and had a similar issue to yours of the cingular card switching to EDGE. While the 1X network Verizon has to backup their EVDO isn’t as slow as cingular’s edge network it is pretty lame. Also I’ve found that Verizon charges huge fees for going off EVDO and running on 1X.
“During my travels, I unable to able to reach max bandwidth on Sprint of HSDPA.”
Yeah, Sprint’s HSDPA bandwidth is not very good ;).
this is so lame. you put up a report calling this a shootout to see who has the better speeds during your trip, and then don’t post any 3rd party speed test results to back up any claims?
wtf?
lastly, please get some grammar lessons.
in fact, i hear they have software for that now.
Amazing! I’m floored by this reader’s keen grasp of logic, and his intelligent filtering of the bullshit from this shoddy and useless report on the (needlessly pondered) real-world usefullness of two competing standards…
this reminds me once again of my philosophy that pretty much anyone insulting or bragging in a subject that is largely unchallenged on an interpersonal level (i.e. masculinity, intelligence, fighting skill, etc) is most likely (barely) operating on a severe deficit in said subject.
To understand more completely, please see the following notes on the evidence of this reader’s faultless grammar and enlightened self-knowledge:
“this is so lame.” – a comment denoting a situation (presumably the situation of reading a comment by another poster in this case) as unfit to walk, or far more loosely, unfair, uncool, or in common slang, a consequence which had previously been hoped to have been evaded (“i’m grounded? this is so lame!”)
“you put up a report calling this a shootout to see who has the better speeds during your trip, and then don’t post any 3rd party speed test results to back up any claims” – Is this the part that is “so lame”? this seems either unnecessary if stating the method of the author’s “real world test”, or else a statement of the reader’s desire that this piece were actually a comparison of 3rd party test data. to me, it seems entirely reasonable.. if the article was meant to find real-world speed and reliability values over the course of a person’s trip, it strikes me that to add 3rd party test results to back up “claims” of speed derived over said trip (of which, after reading the piece, I simply can’t find anyway) would be entirely spurious.
wtf? – a slang phrase which is either a comment that something is unacceptable, or a question asking why a person believes a thing is acceptable.
“lastly,” – a term which begins a tertiery (3rd) or greater closing items in a list of points defined as such at the beginning, usually with the term “first”, or “to start” or less correctly, “first of all”
“please get…” – a request which in RARE circumstances COULD POSSIBLY make up an item in a numbered list of points ONLY if they list is wholly devoted to similar requests or demands.
“…some grammar lessons.” [NOW THIS PART I UNDERSTAND! JUST DELETE ALL PRECEDING BLABBER, AND ADD “If I were partially self aware, or even somewhat inside the scope of reality in my perception of others, I would realize that what I really need are as follows: First, several caning sessions at the hands of my peers, tied naked to my school’s flagpole; secondly, a year or so in prison/the marines/Johannesburg africa; and lastly, SOME GRAMMAR LESSONS”.
HUMILITY (largely a realistic view of one’s self, lacking hypocrisy, gained through other’s input and held up to the light of simple logic) derived from HONESTY, (which, when practised with others, can bring honesty with one’s self and vice versa, producing humility) are the interconnected, symbiotic, and absolutely essential key’s to pretty much any problem; any question seeming unanswerable; and ultimately to a happy life. ahhhhh, but what happens when intelligence gives way to ridicule of the ignorant, leaving pride in one’s own humility…. what a mess I’ve made of myself!
Look at HSDPA compared to Sprint and Verizon today. Sprint is kicking everyone’s ass.
http://www.dslreports.com/archive/spcsdns.net
http://www.dslreports.com/archive/myvzw.com
http://www.dslreports.com/archive/mycingular.net
“At about that time, WiMAX will squirt its beautiful head from Sprint’s placenta.”
Couldn’t use some of that high-speed portable bandwidth to look up basic physiology, eh?
Just need to pipe in with some more corrections to the article. Firstly, Cingular’s current top speed is 3.6Mbps…the 7.2 is the next generation down the road. Heck, they don’t even have that much 3.6 coverage. For more usable information comparing all the carriers Broadband efforts, go here: http://moremobileinternet.com/sprint-vs-verizon
This is ridiculous. It seems that you claimed way more stuff than you actually proved. Show us the actual, real-world numbers, especially for Cingular’s HSDPA.
although I agree in part with the above poster that Cingular currently is on 3.6 in some areas and 1.8 in most, I take issue with the website they posted as it is a Sprint reseller and obviously biased and sometime incorrect
Was this a joke?
If not, it is now!
Your year is up sir.
WiMax is here.
So, a year has passed!! What’s the scoop today (June 6, 2008)? I’m here in East Africa and Safaricom and Celtel are dueling over their mobile Internet access offerings. I hear 3G (or 3.5G?!?!?) is now in Nairobi via Safaricom. But both providers do provide HSDPA modems with data rates going around 10 to 12 Kenya Shillings per MEGABYTE. That works out to be about 16 to 20 cents per MB. Not bad at all for Africa.
In Tanzania, Zantel is kicking ass with its fast EV-DO service, which should now be countrywide.
Things are a little cheaper and competitive in TZ when it comes to broadband and mobile charges…don’t really know why.
Oh, you can peek my blog post about Zantel’s EV-DO service here:
http://goafricago.blogspot.com/2007/03/zantel-ups-stakes-with-new-mobile-data.html
Peacies.
Max (aka MaxTheITpro)
So when ATT rolls out its 4G LTE Network it will
be 5 times faster than WiMAX.
4G LTE : 100 Mbps (Two times Faster than the fastest Verizon Fios Plan)
4G WiMAX : 17 Mbps
Who will want WiMAX when there is LTE
LTE = Long Term Evoltion
WiMAX =Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
Today I got my brand new EVDO router. I have been running for 2 years on HSDPA but now I’m downgrading to EVDO. Neotel is offering it at 1/10th the price I am paying for HSDPA which still can’t reach full speed.